Firefox 90 default home page: search entry field not working; typed entry does not appear in the main field but instead in the address bar.
Categories
(Firefox :: Address Bar, defect)
Tracking
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People
(Reporter: rg1turner, Unassigned)
Details
User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:90.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/90.0
Steps to reproduce:
Enter a search term in Firefox default home page main search field.
Actual results:
Typed entry doesn't appear in search field. However, the typed entry jumps to and appears in the address bar even though the option to disable address bar search funtion has been set.
Expected results:
When I enter something in the Firefox Home Page search field, I would expect it to function. Has it been deprecated? This breaks a rudimentary browser function. I can't imagine continued use if this is now the default behavior. I have re-installed the browser, disabled add-ons, started in safe mode, and the issue remains.
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Comment 1•3 years ago
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The Bugbug bot thinks this bug should belong to the 'Firefox::Address Bar' component, and is moving the bug to that component. Please revert this change in case you think the bot is wrong.
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Comment 2•3 years ago
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(In reply to Ron from comment #0)
even though the option to disable address bar search funtion has been set.
Can you please clarify what functionality you disabled? Did you set keyword.enabled to false?
Yes, and thank you. I did set the keyword.enabled to false after searching for a fix. I assumed that by disabling both the setting in search options as well as in the about:config settings, that the address bar search function would stop. But the address bar search is still functioning regardless, while the home page search field still does not accept any entry.
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Comment 4•3 years ago
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We intentionally changed the new tab page search box in Firefox 89. Text typed into the box will be "handed off" to the address bar. We put the search box on the NTP in the first place so that people who are used to using google.com see a familiar interface. We're now doing handoff to show that the address bar is (for most people) a better search experience, because you can see both search suggestions and history, bookmarks, etc. However, people who disabled keyword.enabled are a unique group, because handoff doesn't work at all for them: we hand them off from a search box to the address bar, where they've made it impossible to search. I've asked our Product department what to do in this case.
If a search entry in the home page search field does not work and instead auto-jumps to the address bar search whether it is enabled or disabled, then what is the point of having a search entry field on the main page? This is simply not a logical transition. Something is broken.
Thank you for your attention.
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Comment 6•3 years ago
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Our user research has shown that many people don't know you can do a search from the Firefox UI, and they think one must navigate to google.com to search. We put a search box on the new tab to target the users that open a new tab with the intention of then navigating to google.com to perform a search. When they open that tab, they see a search box with a logo above it – it kind of looks like google.com. They then realize that they can use Firefox to search instead of going to google.com. With the handoff functionality, we're showing those same users that it's possible to search in the address bar. If they know that, then they could search no matter what page they're on, instead of first opening a new tab then going to google.com. The NTP search box is essentially a tool to demonstrate the Firefox UI to users who are not familiar with it.
So now people will enter a search term in the Firefox home page search field and nothing appears where they are typing, and instead counter-intuitively, jumps up and appears in the address bar with a drop list of search engines from which a choice needs to be selected in order to differentiate the entry from an actual address. I'm sure that will help to clear the confusion of whether to use Firefox's home page search function. I guess they can always set their home page to a search engine with a functioning data entry field, as is universally available, and then having to click on the home button for the user's home page each time a new tab is opened in order to use a functioning search entry field on the main page. Phew, glad that's not too confusing much.
The Firefox home page search entry field does not function. If that is by design then remove it altogether from the GUI, and allow for only using the address bar. If people don't like using the address bar and desire a functioning search entry field, then they can switch to using Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge which both have functioning main page search fields where a typed entry actually appears where entered. Fix it or get rid of it.
Description
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